By a reporter
TORONTO: Dharma Prakash Jain – DP Jain as he is fondly known in the Indo-Canadian community – has achieved everything that he aimed for when he landed in Canada in September 2001.
A trained Chartered Accountant from India, he has turned his Brampton-based D.P. Jain Professional Corporation into a successful professional accounting practice.
A known face in the Indo-Canadian community, Rajasthan-born Jain sits on boards of various social, and cultural organizations and has been a past president of the INdo-Canada Chamber of Commerce.
Jain currently serves as treasurer and vice president of the Indo-Canadian Harmony Forum (ICHF), a director of VegTO (earlier Toronto Vegetarian Association), a director of the Canadian Helen Keller Centre and Rotary Cheshire Homes, and director-treasurer of the local Sri Digmabar Jain Mandir.
“I am a very outgoing person who believes in socializing, networking, and giving back to society. That’s how I have built my practice and that’s how I live my life,” he says, sitting in his office at 30 Intermodal Drive in Brampton.
Jain says he left India after practicing as a Chartered Accountant in Alwar for 10 years to explore the world and build a better life for his family.
“I was doing fine in Alwar, but every-day corruption was getting on my nerves. I wanted to live a clean, honest life because I belong to a proud family of freedom fighters that originally come from Tijara, a town in Rajasthan. My grandparents fought for the freedom of India. Since the age of five, I lived out of Tijara because my father was a state Government employee and kept on transferring, and finally settled in Alwar, a district head quarter, in 1977 because of higher studies.
Citing his father’s exemplary integrity, Jain says, “India had just got independence when my dad finished his matriculation. He was appointed deputy tehsildar in Bhilwara district of Rajasthan in 1950. He was just 18 and got a monthly salary of Rs 35. That was a big deal in those days. But…”
But his father quit his job within one and a half years because of the prevailing corruption.
“My father found that bribes were being accepted openly. He would have none of it, resigned and returned home. He started his higher education, finished his post-graduation and joined the education department. He retired as the director of adult education in 1992.”
Jain says his father would have become an IAS officer at a very young age if he had not resigned from the deputy tehsildar position because when Rajasthan was created as a state in 1956, most of his colleagues were absorbed into the State Administrative Service (RAS) tand then the IAS.
The only one among six siblings to settle abroad, he says Canada became his destination by chance.
“Even as a child, I always wanted to go abroad. But going abroad in those days meant the Middle East as most Indians went there for work. Then in 1995, the Indian CA magazine carried a back-page advertisement, saying: Canada looking for accountants. That is what I was looking for. I applied and got my immigration within months,” says Jain as he narrates journey into Canada in this interview.
Q: So you landed in Canada by chance?
Sort of. I searched for Australia and New Zealand also, but that ad in the Indian CA magazine helped me make up my mind to come to Canada. I applied in January 2000 and got my immigration within four months. But we deferred the decision as my wife was expecting our second child. Finally, we landed in Toronto in September 2001.
Q: How was the initial struggle in Canada?
Thankfully, we never had to struggle a lot, even though we arrived in Canada just after 9/11. I got a job in my profession within one and a half months after our arrival here.
Over the next four years, I also finished my CPA from the US and the CGA from Canada. Then in October 2005, I started my own practice from my office on Torbram and Derry Road.
My wife Anu, who holds M.Com, B.Ed. and CMA degrees from India, worked with Toronto Hydro. She quit that job in 2006 and went into insurance and investments. In 2017, she also branched into real estate.
Our elder son Abhishek, a qualified CPA, is working as a senior associate with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) after finishing his masters of accounting from Waterloo. The younger Raghushek, who has finished his HBA from University of Western Ontario in London, works with Capital One as a financial analyst, and pursuing CFA designation.
Q: So you quickly established yourself in your business and created a name for yourself in social circles.
Yes, very quickly, I believe, Jain’s eyes brighten up. In March 2003, I bought my first condo and a detached home in August 2006, followed by own office in August 2008.
The key to establishing yourself is socializing, networking, hard work, passion, and staying focused on your objectives. That’s why I became a member of our condo management committee and several social organizations such as Agrawals Based In Canada (ABC), the Rajasthan Association of North America (RANA) and a few online groups. .
In 2008 I became associated with many mainstream organizations, including the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce.
I have also been a member of the Toronto Chapter of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India since inception in 2006. I have also served ( 2015-2017) on the board and audit committee committee of the Canadian Helen Keller Centre – an organization that empowers the deaf/blind community through consumer driven services and opportunities.
I am also associated with the Indo-Canadian Harmony Forum (ICHF), serving as its treasurer and vice president. I was also given the Director of the Year Award by the ICHF in 2019.
Q: And your association with the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce led you to its presidentship.
Yes, it was a great privilege to serve on this respected organization. In 2011, I came on its board and became its president in 2014. As the ICCC president, it was great to work with many outstanding leaders of the community, interact with all three levels of the government and lead business delegations to India.
Q: Tells us something about your community involvement.
As the ICCC president, I served on a high-powered committee set up by the government of Canada for negotiating the Canada-India Partnership Agreement (CEPA). Besides, I have also served on the Mississauga International Partnership Program (MIPP) committee and the Compliance Audit Committee of Brampton.
I have been actively engaged in community service, mentoring new immigrants, students, and helping new immigrants getting placed in the job market.
In my leadership under ICHF banner, we organized the first-ever Indian Republic Day and Diwali in the city of Brampton in 2019.
Q: What is the profile of your business under D.P.Jain Professional Corporation today?
We serve all Canadians. Besides my accounting practice, I am engaged in arranging business financing for startups and growth-oriented business, commercial mortgage, private equity, business buying and selling.
More than 90 percent of our business is with corporations, including multinational IT companies. Our clients come from diverse fields, including IT, professionals, health, hospitality, engineering, manufacturing, construction, logistics, transport, retail and wholesale.
Geographically, we serve clients not only based in the GTA but also far-off cities such as Sarnia, London, Ottawa, Woodstock, Cambridge, Guelph, Hamilton, Milton, Whitby, Ajax, etc.
Q: You have a huge community of Indian Chartered Accountants in Canada. What are their numbers and how are they doing?
We have two – Toronto and Vancouver – Chapters of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Out of about 5,000 Indian Chartered Accountants in Canada, more 2,000 are based in the GTA alone.
Today, India-trained CAs are as good as Canadian/North American CAs.
The Institute of Cost Accountants of India also has a Toronto Chapter. My wife, who is a CMA (Chartered Management Accountant) from India, is its founder-member and vice president.
Q: What is your mantra for success?
Hard work, passion, objectivity and focused approach. I keep myself updated with all the current changes and give my 100 percent to my clients. I go beyond their expectations and a my clients’ interest are my top priority. I am easily accessibleaccessible, and my response time is very quick.
Q: Speaking about your Jain community, how big is their presence in Canada?
My guess is that there could be 5,000 Jains in the GTA. Most of them are from Gujarat. I am a Digambar Jain. My family and I strictly follow Jain principles.
We have three Jain temples in the GTA. Toronto’s Shri Digambar Jain Mandir is one the oldest temple. I have served on its board for three years.
Brampton has Bhagwan Shri Adinath Jain Temple. I had the privilege on serving in various committees at the time of its opening in July 2014.
And then there is a new one – Jain Society of Toronto building in Scarborough. Also including a banquet hall and a library, this temple will be open to all Jain sects.
We follow all Jain tenets. In fact, my younger son Raghushek is a vegan.
Q: It means socially and culturally you do not miss anything in Canada, do you?
Not at all. Canada is the best country to live in. Right from day one, I have loved this country.
To tell you a story, my father came to visit us first in 2006. Five months later when he went back to India, he told everyone: `Yadi dharti pe swarag dekhana hai, to Canada chale jao. (If you want to see paradise on earth, go to Canada).
This society has given us so much, and I try to pay back as much as I can. I am a firm believer in giving back to society, and in furthering my belief, in past I had raised funds for hospitals and disabled. I am a long-term donor to various mainstream charities which help improve the lives of all Canadians.
For my community services and leadership, I have also honoured with the Canada 150 Pin and the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal in 2022. My elder son, Abhishek, received the Young Achiever’s Award from the Indo Canada Chamber of Commerce in 2018. We are the first father and son duo to be honoured by the ICCC.
In 2017, Indian Doordarshan featured me in “One Man’s Story”, narrating my Canadian journey. A Toronto-based ethnic channel also covered me on its weekly program titled Zee Spotlight.
We are thankful for the good life we live here. My wife Anu is my pillar of support. My sons are my backbone.
Whenever we have the time, we love to travel. Reading, listening to light soft music, and watching TV are my hobbies.
Q: Besides being a professional accountant do you have interest in any other businesses?
Currently, we are have diversified into real estate investments and credit lending and hope to build a sizable real estate portfolio in a few years.
Q: Do you feel any regret to come to Canada?
Not at all, except one that I was not with my mother who I lost to cancer in February 2004 at the age of 63. This regret would live with me my whole life.
Q: Where do you see yourself in next 10 years?
Well, I see myself as a more mature human being, getting involved more in community service, and helping raise the profile of Indo-Canadians. India is my motherland and I have a unique place for her. I would just say “I am so proud of India. It is the oldest civilization that needs to reclaim its glory.”
Canada is my Karam Bhumi, and to me “in today’s time, this is best country to live.”.
I and my family are extremely proud in sharing the best of both the countries.
Q: Any fond memories of Alwar that you still carry?
While he was growing up in Alwar, I joined the local branch of the RSS. I was its mukhya shikshak (main teacher). It was the oldest shakha (branch), known as Purjan Vihar, at Alwar. But I quit it later.
Former Indian deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani also used to attend the same RSS shaka (branch) in Alwar, when he had migrated from Pakistan. He spent some time living in Alwar.
Alwar is also associated with Swami Vivekanand who had spent some time there.
My ancestral town Tijara is a historical place in Rajasthan. Situated at about 55 km from Alwar, this town of about 20,000 people is a famous Jain pilgrimage centre. In 1956, an idol of 8th Jain Tirthankar Chandraprabhu was excavated. In Jainism, Tijara is recognized as an Atishya Kshetra (miraculous place).
The town also has links to Lord Rama as Shravana Kumara visited this town with his parents. Tijara was known as Trigarta during Pandavas’ time, and also has link with Mughal emperors, Khanjada Rajputs and also with Hakim Khan Mewati.
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